In the closest race in recent memory, Jeff Gordon ’12 and Courtney Pannell ’11 will go head to head in a runoff election on Thursday since neither candidate received a majority of the votes and their shares were less than five percentage points apart.

In the final tally, Pannell (a multimedia editor for the News) led by just two votes, receiving 1,189 to Gordon’s 1,187 of the 3,401 votes cast for president. Pete Croughan ’12, who followed the two presidential front runners closely with 1,025 votes, said he will vote for Gordon in the runoff.

[ydn-legacy-photo-inline id=”6825″ ]

[ydn-legacy-photo-inline id=”6826″ ]

[ydn-legacy-photo-inline id=”6827″ ]

[ydn-legacy-photo-inline id=”6828″ ]

“I was really impressed with Jeff’s understanding and command of the issues in the debate, which will be especially important next year,” Croughan said. “Courtney is also a great candidate, and I congratulate them both on making it to the runoff.”

The runoff election between Gordon and Pannell will take place on YaleStation from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday.

Reached by phone late Tuesday night, Gordon and Pannell both said they spent the evening planning for the next two days.

“We’re mapping out strategy and trying to get a little rest,” Pannell said of her campaign team.

All three presidential candidates said they were impressed with voter turnout this year, in which 783 more students voted than in last year’s election and 644 more than in the 2008 election.

The rest of the YCC executive board races were decided in Tuesday night’s results. Annie Shi ’12 edged out Victoria Gilcrease-Garcia ’12, Hoan Huynh ’12, Justine Kolata ’12 and Guillermo Peralta ’12 for vice president with 38.04 percent of the vote.

Shi said she was surprised there will be no runoff election for the vice president position, considering the number of candidates.

“I’m really surprised and happy to see the numbers,” Shi said, adding that she would not be celebrating too raucously.

“I will probably end up spending the night in the library. I have two weeks worth of work to catch up on,” she said.

The YCC secretary will be Lauren Koster ’12, who ran against Kat Lau ’13. Koster said she had been anxious about the outcome of the race since Lau was such a “strong and competitive opponent.”

Brandon Levin ’13 defeated Lauren Noble ’11 in the treasurer race. He said he was “thrilled” about the win, and that he would be grabbing pizza with friends to celebrate.

Next year’s chair of the Undergraduate Organizations Finance Committee will be Chris LoPresti ’12, who ran against Murong Yang ’12. LoPresti could not be reached for comment Tuesday evening.

Finally, Michael Chao ’11 edged out Taylor Lasley ’12 for the events director position. Chao said the outcome of the election was “definitely a surprise.” Like other newly elected candidates, Chao said he would spend Tuesday night catching up on the work he had put off in favor of campaigning.

Angie Ramirez ’12 will be next year’s Junior Class Council chair, defeating Becca Stern ’12 and Michael Knowles ’12 with 41.58 percent of the vote. In the race for Sophomore Class Council chair, Omar Njie ’13 earned a win against Nnamdi Iregbulem ’13, Nelson Obiora Madubuonwu ’13, Rory Marsh ’13 and B.J. White ’13.